The US sanctioned 21 officials it said supported Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s effort to defy results of an election that the country’s opposition and Washington say he lost.
The current and former Venezuelan officials — including cabinet ministers and their relatives, as well as from the upper tiers of the country’s national guard and counter-intelligence services — supported Maduro’s crackdown on protests after the vote, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said Wednesday.
“They have supported and carried out Maduro’s orders to repress civil society in his efforts to fraudulently declare himself the winner of Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election,” the department said in a statement.
The officials include Communication Minister Freddy Nanez and William Castillo, who has served as vice-minister of Anti-Blockade Policies.
The US also targeted two relatives of Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello: his daughter Daniella Cabello, who serves as president of the Venezuelan Export Promotion Agency, and his cousin Alexis Rodriguez, the director of the country’s intelligence police.
Separately, the State Department aims to impose new visa restrictions on individuals “undermining democracy, engaging in significant corruption, or violating the human rights of the Venezuelan people,” which it said now totals nearly 2,000.
In one of its most significant shows of support, the US earlier this month began referring to opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who fled to Spain in September, as Venezuela’s president-elect.
Maduro’s current term ends Jan. 10, and it will fall on the incoming US administration of President-elect Donald Trump to decide how much further it wants to push Maduro. Trump campaigned on a promise to deport large numbers of immigrants from Latin America, particularly Venezuela, and flying them back would require coordinating with his government.
In September, the US sanctioned 16 members of the country’s Supreme Court, Electoral Council and other entities for obstructing “free and fair” elections in the country.
More than 2,400 Venezuelans were arrested and 28 killed in the protests across the across the country after Maduro claimed victory in the July vote. Earlier this month the government released 225 detainees, including minors, a move that was seen as a potential olive branch.
Venezuela also arrested several foreigners, including at least seven US citizens, claiming they conspired against the Maduro government.